This scissors firm can be traced to Herbert Frankland Smith (1852-1918), who in the 1890s joined Joseph Edley as a dressing case manufacturer. Smith & Edley ended in 1899.  H. Frankland Smith & Co moved to Queen’s Road, but after Smith died on 23 April 1918 (leaving £3,470) Royse Bros became the ‘successor’, selling ladies’ work boxes, manicure tools, and scissors. The owners were Walter Royse (1888-1959) and John Royse (1875-1945), who were the sons of Walter and Hannah Royse. The family came from Castleton (where Walter Sen. was a spa worker and guide) and continued to live in Derbyshire.  In 1931, the firm was registered as a limited liability company, with £1,500 capital, and A. W. Riley (Charles Street), and Walter and John Royse as directors.

John died at Castleton on 11 June 1945, leaving £1,354.  In 1951, Royse Bros was absorbed by VAB Products Ltd, a London brass founder, hardware merchant, and maker of household fittings. Walter Royse, of Riverdale, Shatton, Bamford, died on 20 May 1959, leaving £22,486. A Royse Bros letterhead (1960) dated the firm from 1860; featured an incorporated firm (John Thomas Middleton); with Ivor Lloyd as chairman . It ceased business in Queen’s Road in the 1970s.